Nation Marks Fifth Anniversary of 9/11 Attacks

Over the long term, Bush said, "We have got to defeat an ideology of hate with an ideology of hope. And that's why I've called it an ideological struggle."

At the Pentagon this morning, Cheney, attending a ceremony with Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, hailed the war on terrorism launched by the Bush administration in response to the attacks. "In the conduct of this war, the world has seen the best that is in our country," Cheney said. "We have shown that Americans are a resolute people, clear in our purposes, steady in difficult tasks. We have answered violence with patient justice."

Cheney added, "This struggle is fierce, and it will be lengthy. But it is not endless. Our cause is right, our will is strong; this great nation will prevail."

As the vice president concluded his remarks, a large flag was unfurled from the top of the Pentagon, recalling the show of patriotism that accompanied the rescue effort at the damaged building five years ago.

The attacks on that clear September morning killed 2,973 people -- not including the 19 al-Qaeda hijackers who commandeered four commercial airliners and turned them into weapons of mass death. In a suicide mission that had been planned for more than two years, they used small knives, box cutters and cans of Mace or pepper spray to take control of the cockpits.

The first plane, American Airlines Flight 11 from Boston's Logan Airport to Los Angeles, slammed into the North Tower of the World Trade Center in New York at 8:46 a.m. It carried 76 passengers, nine crew members, five hijackers and 10,000 gallons of jet fuel.

The second plane, United Airlines Flight 175, also bound for Los Angeles from Logan, hit the trade center's South Tower at 9:03 a.m.

As massive fires raged in the twin towers, where as many as 50,000 people were employed, hundreds of victims were incinerated or succumbed to the billowing smoke. Others, unable to escape, leaped to their deaths from floors above the blaze, or were crushed when both towers subsequently collapsed.

In subsequent recovery efforts, the bodies of only 291 of the World Trade Center victims were found intact. Remains from more than half the others were eventually identified, but no identifiable trace has been found of about 1,150 of the victims, forcing many families to bury caskets filled with mementos rather than human bodies.

While Americans were absorbing the reality that the nation was under terrorist attack on Sept. 11, a third airliner, American Airlines Flight 77 from Washington's Dulles International Airport to Los Angeles, slammed into the Pentagon at more than 500 mph at 9:37 a.m. Among the victims were 125 people in the Pentagon and 59 passengers and crew aboard the plane.

But the fourth hijacked plane -- carrying 40 passengers and crew, plus four attackers --never reached the hijackers' intended destination, believed to be the U.S. Capitol. Instead, United Airlines Flight 93 from Newark to San Francisco crashed into a field near Shanksville at 10:03 a.m. after passengers learned of the other suicide attacks that morning and fought the hijackers in a desperate effort to take control of the plane. The resulting crash gave the United States what Bush has called its first victory in the war on terrorism.